Chidambaram to review law and order in Tripura, Mizoram

Agartala: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will, along with senior officials, review the law and order situation of two northeastern states of Tripura and Mizoram on Tuesday and Wednesday, officials said here.

"The union home minister would hold meetings with Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and top central, state and paramilitary officials here on Tuesday to assess the prevailing law and order situation of Tripura, bordering Bangladesh," a senior Tripura government official told reporters on Monday.

The home minister will leave for Aizawl on Wednesday and hold meetings with Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla and top officials to review the situation in the mountainous state, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh.

"The home minister`s visit comes in the backdrop of the centre’s attempts to bring all the insurgent outfits of the northeast to the negotiating table. Talks are being held at various levels with the separatist outfits of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram," the official said.

Chidambaram, during his two-day visit in Imphal, Manipur, last week, held a series of meetings with Manipur Governor Gurubachan Jagat, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and senior army and intelligence officers to take stock of the law and order situation in the insurgency infested state.

An official in Aizawl told reporters: "During his visit to Mizoram Wednesday, Chidambaram would also supervise the progress of the repatriation of tribal refugees from north Tripura to western Mizoram. He is scheduled to meet the tribal leaders in Mizoram."

The long-awaited repatriation of tribal refugees from Tripura to neighbouring Mizoram had resumed April 12 but there is still uncertainty over whether all the migrants here would return home, officials here said.

"A total of 701 tribal families comprising about 3,585 men, women and children have been sent back so far. The process of repatriation of refugees to their villages in western Mizoram is still on," Kanchanpur Sub-Divisional Magistrate Dilip Chakma said on Monday.

Following ethnic troubles in Mizoram since October 1997, over 41,000 Reang tribal refugees, locally called Bru, have taken shelter in six camps in north Tripura`s Kanchanpur sub-division, adjacent to western Mizoram.

Chidambaram, during his stay in Tripura, will also lay the foundation stone of an international standard integrated check-post (ICP) Tuesday at Akhaurah, two km west of Tripura capital Agartala.

The ICP, to be set up at a cost of Rs 60 crore - would be sanitised zones with dedicated passenger and cargo terminals and space for regulatory agencies besides the necessary modern facilities under one roof.